


Across the Universe

by meggannn



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: First Meetings, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-02
Updated: 2012-07-13
Packaged: 2017-11-06 14:30:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 4,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meggannn/pseuds/meggannn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of Fullmetal/Avatar/Korra crossovers. No established canon, just me fooling around with some one-shot ideas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Toph & Mustang

“Well the short kid outside told me Roy Mustang was a cocky, arrogant bastard, but judging from the way you’re slumping there I must have the wrong room.”

No longer lost in thought, Roy lifted his head at the unfamiliar voice – gruff, loud, and undeniably female. Judging by a rough estimate of the distance between them, he made the guess that its owner must have been standing in the doorway, but from the sound of thumping footsteps growing closer, it seemed as though his visitor was drawing nearer to his bedside.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his guards outside to keep him safe as he healed, but years of serving in the military hadn’t taught him to be suspicious of everyone for nothing.

“You have the right room,” he said wearily. “I’m indeed Roy Mustang, but I wasn’t expecting visitors tonight. May I ask what you’re here for, Miss – ?”

“That’s interesting,” she interrupted, ignoring him, and he heard the sounds of a chair being pulled out and dragged to the left side of his bedside. “You hear so many stories about this great Flame colonel guy and it turns out he doesn’t even have half the presence of a real firebending master.”

He frowned. Just because he didn’t understand half of her last sentence didn’t mean he couldn’t recognize rudeness when it came. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m currently recovering from my injuries, as you can see, so if this is Fullmetal’s idea of a joke – ”

“This was my idea,” the girl said dismissively, and he felt the thumps of two small feet plopping themselves up onto the bed sheets, softly bumping against his legs. “But I didn’t come here to insult you. I’m here because I heard you turned down that doctor’s offer for him to heal your eyes. Apparently it could’ve cured your blindness, but you said no. Was just, you know, wondering about your reasoning behind that.”

Roy told himself to be patient. She sounded young, after all – probably just some nosy kid that had wandered away from her parents. She didn’t mean to be insensitive, she just didn’t understand what he was going through at the moment. Right.

He idly fiddled with the corner of the cotton blanket spread over his lap, rubbing his fingers over the familiar texture. “Miss,” he said, trying to keep his voice level and polite, “that’s personal business. I declined Dr. Marcoh’s offer for a variety of reasons, none of which I find appropriate to share with someone I’m unfamiliar with.”

“So you didn’t listen to all your friends and loved ones telling you how much better off you’d be with your sight, how less helpless you’d be with it, and all that? You just ignored them and decided to do your own thing?”

 _I’m going to have to ask you to leave_  was on the tip of his tongue, but she continued talking before he could get a single word out.

“Good,” she went on, “that sounds great. You’re already ten steps farther than Twinkletoes was when he first started learning. Obviously your condition has pushed you up a few notches, so the first stage is almost done already. I need a strong pupil to set an example for those other lily-livers – I think you’ll do just fine. We can get started now, then.”

Roy’s mind was whirling, trying to keep up, but the more that he turned her words over in his mind, the less they made sense. “Excuse me?”

“The kid – Fullmetal, did you call him? – didn’t think this was a good idea, said you were still recovering, blah, blah, blah.” The girl snorted. Roy imagined a sarcastic hand flapping in the air accompanying her words. “I told him to shove it. If you’re a good enough firebender as that Lieutenant lady says, I don’t care if you’re sitting here like a lump, I still think you’ve got potential. You don’t get called a hero for nothing.”

Roy still had no idea what was going on, but she had mentioned one thing he did recognize. “If you’re referring to the common nickname ‘the Hero of Ishval,’” he said quietly, “I’m afraid that’s not a title I’d like to continue being called by, if you don’t mind.”

“Not sure what Ishval is,” the girl said easily, “but I was talking about the buzz on the street. Word has it you saved a bunch of lives and kicked some serious butt last week, even after you lost your sight. I liked the sound of that; I wanted to come meet you myself. So if the rumors are true and you’re still aiming to be the leader of this country, I don’t think firebending is gonna cut it anymore, no matter how great it is, not when you can’t see. I’d like to teach you some earthbending, and maybe metal, too, if you’re good enough. It sounds like you could have a real knack for it.”

“Look, it was very nice meeting you,” Roy said, fumbling around to grasp her feet; they were rough in his palms, calloused, and he gently but firmly lowered them off of the bed. “But again, I am still recovering, and I’m not sure I can entertain you for much longer. But yes, if this is what you’re meaning to ask, I am still interested in becoming Fuhrer of Amestris, very much so. Thank you for your concern, but I don’t need any more assitance to reach that position than I already have. I’m not planning on letting any physical limitations stop me.”

“Good on you,” she said, sounding pleased – and oddly enough, rather proud. “That’ll show ‘em.”

“If you’re speaking out of sarcasm or condescension – ”

“Of course it’s not,” she scoffed. “I told you I’m genuinely interested in taking you on, didn’t I? I think you could do some great things, honestly. But the firebending isn’t going to cut it if you can’t see what you’re aiming for, which is why I’m here. You need to learn how to fight without having to rely on those useless things on either side of your nose.”

“With all due respect,” Roy said tiredly, exhausted from his attempts to keep civil, “I’m rather doubtful that, by some miracle, there _is_ a discipline of fighting that I ’ve never heard of in all my years of studying alchemy that would allow an individual to effectively learn how to defend himself and disarm his opponents sightless.” He rubbed his temples. “If such a magic thing _did_ exist, then you’d have my utmost attention, but until that day comes, I’m more than content with staying in this hospital to heal until I’m ready to continue my political campaign. And to be quite frank,” he said heavily, trying his best to face his head in the direction that her voice had been coming from, “I don’t quite believe that a total stranger – whose name apparently does not seem important enough for its owner to bother enough to introduce me to – could ever be in a position to teach a blind man how to fight from complete scratch.”

“I guess you’d better start believing it, Mustang, ‘cause I’m blind, too, and there’s not a man alive that can take me down,” the girl’s voice came, sounding rather amused. “Your miraculous solution isn’t ‘magic,’ by the way, it’s earthbending. And I’m Toph, if you must know, but don’t get used to saying it because you’ll be calling me Sifu anyway. Now hop out of bed. Those are two perfectly good legs you’ve got – put ‘em to use and let’s get started.”


	2. Bolin & Havoc

“ — mean as a freaking rattlesnake and I broke my knuckles the other day when she made me hold up an entire wall of steel for three hours,” Bolin sighed. “But she  _is_  the best metalbender in the city. Or the world. I think it’s the world, I’m not really sure.” He downed another swig of beer and peered at the bottle suspiciously. “You promise the drinking age here is sixteen, right?”

“Mm?”

“Sixteen. I’m legal here, right?”

“Oh, sure. Yeah.” Havoc was busy dividing his attention between eyeing twin blondes in the corner of the bar and lighting up another cigarette; it was all he could do not to set his nose on fire by accident. “You know, you may want to talk to Fullmetal with all this ‘metalbending’ stuff. He may be able to help.”

“Well his name sounds promising, but who is he?”

“A loud-mouthed brat that’ll insult you to Xing and back and curse the paint off the walls, but damn if he doesn’t know his alchemy.” Havoc sucked in a breath, then released it. The smoke danced toward the ceiling and he jerked his head toward that corner. “Kid, tell me honest, this ‘earthbending’ stuff — how far do you think it could get us with those ladies if we passed it off as really drunken alchemy?”


	3. Lin & Izumi

“Tell me again, please,” Izumi said from the counter. “I’m not sure I understood it fully the first time. What is it that you do?”

“I’m Chief of the Metalbending Police Force in Republic City,” Lin said patiently from the table. She shifted in her seat. “Are you, er, sure you don’t need a doctor? I know a very reliable healer — “

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” She grabbed a napkin from the counter and wiped the trickle of blood away from the corner of her lip. “Happens all the time.”

“Happens all the — ?”

“Would you like one sugar or two?”

“Er,” Lin said, “two. Please. Are you sure you don’t require medical attention?”

“Positive, but thank you for your concern.” Izumi passed her the steaming cup and Lin thanked her graciously, raising it to her mouth. “So this ‘metalbending’ of yours sounds a rather awful lot like my preferred branch of alchemy. Would you mind running me through the basics?”


	4. Toph & Edward

“Look, I’ll give you props on being clever enough to come up with a derogatory nickname for me that doesn’t involve ragging on my height, but you need to cut it with this stuff, all right? You’re ruining my cred around Central — ”

“What would you prefer I call you? ‘Twinkle-toes’ is already taken.”

“Look, girlie, you should know I don’t have reservations about picking fights with girls, and I’m not exactly a novice at combat here, so — ”

“Give me a break, you call that alchemy crap real fighting? You couldn’t bend your way out of a paper bag — when you claw your way out of a badermole cave with your own bare hands, then come talk to me. Until then, the nicknames stay.”

“Dirtbag.”

“Freak.”


	5. Asami & Winry

“ _Yes_ ,” Winry said, “he does, and it drives me up the wall — like, really, I understand forgetting to oil it, that probably requires more brain power than Edward likes to use on a daily basis when it comes to the mechanics of his automail, but he could at least have the common courtesy to let it dry when he comes out of the shower — it’s not like steel is completely water-proof!”

“Oooh, I’ve luckily never had that problem.” Asami bit her lip, concentrating. “But I imagine it’d be chaos if your limb started to rust. Pass me that wrench, would you?”

“Which?”

“On the table, the box-end.”

The sound of footsteps, then a hand holding out the instrument for Asami’s grip as she lay flat on her back underneath the moped. “Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” Winry was quiet for a moment, watching the girl work, before piping up again, raising her voice to be heard over the engine. “You really designed this yourself, then? That’s seriously impressive!”

Asami laughed. “Says the girl who crafts fully-functioning human limbs with her bare hands in a matter of days.”

“It’s just intriguing.” Winry crouched into a squatting position; her knees were just visible in the sliver of space between the vehicle and the floor. “I’ve never seen something so cool as a satomobile before.”

“Well I’ve never seen something so intricately designed as automail before.”

Winry poked her head underneath to share a grin. Asami was fairly certain her face was covered in grease and motor oil, but she grinned back.


	6. Iroh II & Mustang

“How on  _earth_ ,” Mustang grumbled, “does  _that_  play move _there_?”

Iroh blinked. “The simple rules of Pai Sho, Colonel. You don’t have this game in Amektris?”

“ _Amestris_ ,” Mustang corrected automatically, frowning at the board. “And no, we don’t. There’s chess and chess, and that’s about it.”

Iroh bit his tongue to keep from asking any more questions; it was already all he could do not to snap at the man for drawing weird chalk circles all over his nice floors. He was half tempted to challenge the man to an Agni Kai simply to see how great this so-called “Flame Alchemist” was in the middle of combat, but he’d rather not be remembered as the first general to start an argument over a tabletop game.

Spirits, he needed a cup of tea. The only real solution to any problem, really.

Iroh rose and moved to the countertop to begin boiling the water, leaving Mustang frowning at the board behind him. “Tea?”

“Please.”

“You said you’re an expert in fire alchemy?”

“Flame alchemy, yes.”

“I’ll admit I’m curious. Would you mind terribly if I asked for a demonstration?”

One of his fists was already extended, prepared to heat the water in the pot, but a quick  _snap_  behind him sent a spark of flame spinning underneath the porcelain; Iroh nearly dropped the teapot out of shock, but managed to reel in his surprise enough to calmly peek inside to inspect the boiling water that was bubbling inside.

“I’ve shown you mine,” Mustang said from behind him, sounding smug. “Now it’s your turn — equivalent exchange. A demonstration of your skills in action, General?”

Iroh couldn’t help smirking to himself. “Out in the courtyard, then, at dawn tomorrow. Bring some extra gloves of yours; I think you’ll need them.”


	7. Bolin, Korra & Ling

“Look, the sign  _said_  all you can eat,” Ling said around a mouthful of noodles, “so I really don’t see what you’re complaining about — you already have our money, just let us  _eat_.”

“Your friends paid, but I’m afraid you have not, Prince Yao.” Narook was not a threatening man, but he wasn’t above tossing a customer that didn’t pay out onto the streets, prince or not.

“C’mon, Narook, he’s a friend of ours,” Bolin said, slurping up the rest of the broth in his bowl, then placed the dish aside, where Korra’s elbow nearly knocked it over in what looked like the Avatar’s attempt to consume every seafood dish the restaurant had to offer before she passed out from exhaustion. “I’ll cover him, all right? Put it on my tab.”

Narook rolled his eyes as the newcomer let out a loud whoop of joy and tossed his arms around his new friend’s shoulders. “I’m so lucky to have found such hospitality in a foreign country so far from home,” he said, looking so touched, as if Bolin had offered to name his first born in his honor. “You all will receive warm welcomes in Xing, you have my my word!”

“You guys are slacking of,” Korra said, letting out a loud belch as she moved onto the next dish. “Bolin, you’re four bowls behind me and Ling, you’re only two.”

“You’re keeping score?”

“Someone has to. Don’t forget, there’s still desert, and I told Narook to fix up the coldest, tongue-freezing dishes the South has to offer.” She looked up at the cook, eyes shining. There was a spot of broth on the corner of her lip. “Please?”

Narook heaved a sigh and turned back into the kitchen.


	8. Lin & Winry

“Military? Hardly, young lady. I’m Chief of Police in Republic City.” Lin stood a bit taller, badge gleaming on her chest. “Best trained metalbending force in the world.”

“Metalbending — is that like what Ed and Al do?” Winry asked. Her tongue was out and her face was smeared with grease as she leaned over the tabletop, drilling away at a sheet of steel. Lin leaded over her shoulder, observing. “You transmute metal, right?”

“Mm,” Lin said distractedly, “something like that. These mechanics, you came up with them by yourself?” She motioned toward the automail designs plastered over the walls, detailed plans of the intricacies of her finest work.

“Some of them,” Winry said, leaning back and snapping off her goggles. “A few of them were my grandmother’s, but I’ve been taking some of her old models and redoing them lately.” She blew on the metal a few times to cool it, then picked it up with gloved hands and held it out to Lin for inspection. “I still need to meet with your officer to see if it fits his proportions, but since he’s still in the hospital we’ll have to wait until he’s healed enough to come in and try it on. But something like this is what you’re looking for, right? An arm with hooks for the cords to shoot in through the sides?” She pointed toward the notches embedded in the sides, and Lin held up a small rope of metal coil to thread it through the hole, where it slid neatly through.

“Just that,” Lin said, pleased, “is exactly what we’re looking for. Thank you.”


	9. Korra & Ed

“It’s  _not_  a trick,” Korra snapped, “it’s  _bending_. For the eighteenth time, okay, it’s not  _magic_ , it’s real.”

“Look, there’s no circle, okay? No array, no form, no conduct for the flow of energy.” Ed shoved his palms together and the air crackled in front of him; the metal plates in his arm shifted to form his familiar hand-sword, which he shoved in front of Korra’s nose to give her a proper demonstration. “ _That’s_  how you do it. The form, the circle of energy, the — ”

“ _That_  is not the issue,” Korra insisted, shoving his arm and blade away from her face. “I don’t even know _what_  that was, but just because my bending doesn’t fit your idea of ‘real power’ doesn’t mean I’m a hack, okay?”

“Flailing your limbs around like some circus act, yeah, that’s real intimidating, go splash some water on your enemies and see how good that does — ”

“Kid, I’m about three seconds away from earthbending a rock so far up your nostril it’ll shove your nose through the back of your stupid blonde head.”

“I’d like to see  _you_  try it, girlie.”

“I’d like to see you at  _all_ , but I can’t spot you behind that dumb antenna of yours, short stuff — ”


	10. Aang & Alphonse

“And sure, it’s easy for them, but killing anybody who I disagree with doesn’t really seem the best way to deal with my problems.” Aang dodged Alphonse’s swipe and gathered a ball of air, balancing on the tip as the suit of armor regained his balance after the missed attack. Aang grinned. “Interesting form, but you’ve never fought an airbender, have you?”

“I’m not even really sure what that means,” Alphonse admitted, “but that’s neat with the — that — what is it?”

“The air scooter.” Aang grinned. “Came up with it myself. Anyway, so I’ve got everybody screaming in my ear about how Ozai’s got to die, but I figure it’s going to happen anyway, that’s the way the world works, but a monk shouldn’t really be the one to do it, you know? I thought we were supposed to be preserving life here, respecting it. Doesn’t make much sense.”

“I hear you,” Alphonse said, ducking a blast of air Aang sent spinning his way. “Not really my area or anything, but I’ve run into too many people-that-aren’t-really-people to not appreciate it.”

“People-that-aren’t-really-people?”

“Long story. Could you show me that cool dodging again, with the backflip? I need to use that to avoid Ed when he goes on another tantrum…”


	11. Tarrlok & Greed

“Oooh,” Greed tsked, “bad form, there.”

Tarrlok started. The water he had been bending dropped to the floor with a loud slap that soaked his shoes, but he paid it no mind. “How’d you get in here? The door was locked — ”

“Not for me, it isn’t.” Greed waved the carbon-clad finger he had used to pick the lock. “Your footwork needs practice, mate, you’re too rigid. Not much use in a fight if you’re not flexible.”

“This is a private training session,” Tarrlok said between his teeth, “so I’m going to have to ask you to see yourself to the door.”

“No, I’m comfortable right where I am, thanks. That little spinning water trick looked kind of neat, though. Mind if I steal it in the future?”

“You’re not even a waterbender.” Tarrlok narrowed his eyes at the newcomer — foreigner, absolutely, and definitely not from the Tribes, too sharply dressed to have come from the swamp, and didn’t even seem like a bender at all, come to think of it. “You couldn’t steal my moves if you’d tried.”

“So you say. Everything’s going to be mine eventually, it’s just a matter of patience.” Greed took a seat behind Tarrlok’s desk, legs up, and waved a hand at him in a ‘go on’ motion. “Keep practicing, then, let me see what you’ve got. If you’re especially useful I may ask you to join my team.”


	12. Korra & Riza

“Thanks again for letting me stay over,” Korra said gratefully. “Kind of forgot to book myself a hotel room and I felt bad for intruding on the Hughes’ for another night. I’ll be out of your hair by the time the sun comes up. We’ve got to hit the road tomorrow.”

“It’s no problem, Korra, feel free to stay as long as you need.” Riza pulled her last bag in and left it neatly by the coat rack, then moved into the kitchen. “Tea?”

“Oh, spirits, I’m so sick of tea,” Korra whined, then froze. “I mean — no thanks. Er. I had a lot to eat on the train.”

Riza couldn’t help laughing. “Care for a cup of coffee, then?”

“Cough-what?”

She turned around. “Coffee. Hot beverage, caffinated, helps people stay awake? You don’t have that in the South?”

“Er.” Korra looked around, observing her bare apartment. “Guess not. Oh, who’s this?”

Riza turned to find Black Hayate stretching up Korra’s leg, licking her fingers. “Down, Hayate, don’t eat our guest.”

“No, it’s all right.” Korra bent down to rub his belly. Hayate looked to be perfectly content, judging by his panting tongue and the steady whack of his tail thumping on the floor. “I have a dog too, Naga. I think I probably just smell too much like her.”

Riza only smiled, shook her head, and moved into the kitchen to gather two mugs.


	13. Mako & Edward

“I _told_  you,” Mako said again, “I’m not going to arrest you — I don’t even know what human transmutation  _means_.”

“And you’re not  _going_  to know because it’s illegal and I’m not explaining it to you,” Edward sniffed.

“Look, I’ve just had my badge for a few months, and I’m hardly the type to go around arresting people for stuff I don’t even understand. Your brother didn’t even go into detail and it’s not like I’m gonna start prying, but for the record I get it, all right? You were a kid and you had to do what you had to do, it’s okay — ”

“What the hell would you know about that?”

“I know protecting little brothers sometimes requires breaking the law and it’s not half as fun as the stories make it sound.” Mako resisted the urge to sigh and call for Korra — no, he was an adult, he could handle himself and he could handle this. “I’m just here to tell you that after your argument with Alphonse, your brother got worried enough about you to call the police after you stormed off — in the middle of a snowstorm without a coat with two metal limbs that could freeze your ports — and I’m a firebender. I just thought, you know, maybe I could help.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“…”

“… Just a bit, maybe. My toes are kind of freezing.”


	14. Bolin & Alphonse

“Pabu! Hey, he’s mine — ”

Alphonse turned to find a stocky teenager running toward him with a determined panic. “Oh, he’s — Pabu, he’s my pet.”

“This little guy?”

“Yeah,” the kid said, taking him when Alphonse held him out. “Thanks, I lost him around the corner when he went chasing after some rat.”

“Found him scavenging around in this bin.” Alphonse stood and motioned toward the trash. “Thought he was a stray cat that had wandered loose, but most cats around here don’t have red fur. He — Pabu, did you call him? — he doesn’t really seem like a local animal at all, actually.”

“Fire ferret,” the kid explained. “And I’m Bolin. We’re from out of town and decided to go exploring.”

“Central’s kind of dangerous unsupervised,” Alphonse said. “Fancy a tour?”

Bolin grinned. “As long as you can have me back by ten, or my older brother will have my head for worrying him.”

“No worries,” Alphonse said, leading the way down the High Road. “I know a thing or two about avoiding over-protective older brothers.”


	15. Aang & Edward

“Hold on, you said fire — what kind of fire alchemist doesn’t know how to draw a simple flame transmutation circle?”

Aang flushed, looking rather put off. “I — alchemist? I told you I’m a fire _bender_ , Ed, I don’t do any of that circle stuff like Mustang.”

“What the hell’s the difference?”

“I don’t — oh,  _here_ , move out of the way.” Aang lit the firewood with a thrust of his fist and Edward yelped, scrambling back when the tip of his hair caught fire.

“Watch it!”

“You didn’t move!”

Ed shook out his hair with his metal arm, snuffing the fire out. “I was waiting for you to draw a  _circle_ , I had no idea you could just summon fire in your palm whenever you freaking feel like it — ”

“It’s not  _summoning_ ,” Aang explained patiently, “it’s not like a spirit, I’m just bending it. It comes from the  _breath_.”

“The breath.”

“It’s a spiritual thing.”

If Ed had rolled his eyes harder he would’ve given himself brain damage.

“What’s that look for?”

“I’m an alchemist, okay? We don’t deal with improvable concepts like spirituality. We’re scientists. That kind of stuff isn’t really real to us.”

“I guess your hair isn’t  _really_  burning, then.”

“…”

“…”

“You said you were a waterbender. Please.”


End file.
